All posts tagged Chemotherapy

Many medical tests and procedures are performed when they aren’t needed, a new campaign by several doctors’ groups says.

The initiative, coordinated by the foundation affiliated with the American Board of Internal Medicine, will initially focus on 45 medical services — five each produced by nine different doctor-specialty societies. It will later add future lists from other specialties.

The lists will be publicized by Consumers Union’s Consumer Reports, AARP and other consumer groups, says Dr. Christine Cassel, the foundation’s CEO….

Some patients and doctors swear by the healing power of herbs and other plants, but their chemical complexity makes them notoriously difficult to study.

Some headway is being made, however, as WSJ’s In The Lab column reports. New research suggests a four-herb combination long used in traditional Chinese medicine helps curb some side effects of chemotherapy.

Another example of an herbal treatment breaking into the halls of Western medicine is that of ingenol mebutate….